


Close As Strangers

by liqhters



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Angst, Heartbreak, I still don't know how to tag here have a smiley face :), M/M, Sad, Sad Ending, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, also I love seokhao(?) mingseok(?) [what is the official shipname pls] sO MUCH, seungcheol is kind of a jerk I'm sorry, this is so sad please forgive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 06:17:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13381920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liqhters/pseuds/liqhters
Summary: prompt: "au where cheol falls inlove with jeonghan and after some time jeonghan falls inlove with him too and after graduating cheol had to go back to his hometown so jeonghan waited for him and when cheol came back to seoul he isnt inlove with jeonghan anymore :("





	Close As Strangers

**Author's Note:**

> finally after 627252635272 years hello its ya girl grace !! i would like to thank my eonni [teen!](https://twitter.com/junhuirella/status/951867645984350208) for this painful au pls go check her account she's awesome! also this is so late like 3 years lmao  
>   
> thank you so much to my beta [alex](https://twitter.com/juchim_) you're a blessing  
>   
> anyways i hope yall enjoy this poorly written fic and i hope i did the prompt justice - with love, Grace xoxo

jeonghan first meets seungcheol on his last year of highschool. seungcheol was introduced to their group of friends as another senior aside from jisoo and jeonghan and the group has accepted seungcheol quite warmly. the year started off and jeonghan quickly got used to seungcheol's warm, caring presence around. jeonghan was told by jisoo this about a hundred times already but he would never get tired of hearing about how seungcheol had to "go to the bathroom" that afternoon they all first met because he had to take a moment because jeonghan was the "most beautiful thing i've ever seen jisoo i think i might cry hooooo boy."

seungcheol was sure he had met the love of his life and was seeing everything with a rose-tinted glow. he was stupidly happy when jeonghan was around, he would always want to touch him, even just a pat on the head and it would make seungcheol's day the best one of his life.  it was tantalizing and cliché but seungcheol had fallen in love and by god, if he let jeonghan slip through his fingertips, it would be the worst mistake of his life. 

jeonghan heard seungcheol say he loved him for the first time on a tuesday twilight,  after a small party their juniors had hosted that had started way too early in the morning. after seeing soonyoung safely tucked into a couch and getting seokmin who was holding up and won't let go of a sleeping minghao in his drunken state lay down in a spare room, seungcheol had led him up on the roof. then, under the dulled hues of that  twilight, seungcheol rests his head on jeonghan's shoulder and he holds his sides, grips on his waist like he'll disappear with the light and tells him  " _jeonghan._ i _love you."_ there were no flowers or chocolates or music and the party had long died down, but jeonghan feels his heart pounding, and he hopes it isn't as loud as it is in his own ears because seungcheol lifts his head to rest it against his, warm exhales of breath on his face. seungcheol says jeonghan's name like it was something important, a whisper of a secret nobody else could know and jeonghan feels like he's saved an empire in his last life because seungcheol kisses him and it was a scene straight out of your favorite movies, pure love and a tight hold on each other. jeonghan let's seungcheol do what he wants, lets him lift him up and twirl him around like some cliché love story as he smiles against seungcheol's lips, because seungcheol  _loves_ him and jeonghan has given him his whole heart — to have, to hold or to break, jeonghan didn't mind at the moment. because jeonghan loves seungcheol, too.

 

it's the love story of the new age. the high definition scenes of bliss in spotlighted big screens and unlimited happily ever afters. seungcheol walks around the school like he's won the lottery five times in a row, he doesn't care that people are looking at him weirdly and soonyoung is teasing him about his stupidly big smile at lunch. he doesn't need to explain anything when jeonghan arrives and presses a soft kiss on his cheek in front of everyone. there was silence and gaping mouths but then soonyoung is hitting seungcheol demanding to know how it happened and seokmin dramatically lays down on jeonghan's lap asking if he's been abandoned while holding on to minghao's hand flailing it around exaggeratedly to which minghao just smiles fondly, quietly,  but full of love.  jeonghan wonders if that's what he looks like when he looks at seungcheol. (he hopes he does.)

 

 

graduation rolls around and seungcheol is bouncing on the balls of his feet, nervous,  excited, a lot of feelings all at once. but he grips jeonghan's hands in his, waits for the announcer to call his name and because he was seungcheol, he kisses jeonghan full on the lips before he stands up to get his diploma. this earns them cheers and whooping, soonyoung and seokmin's voice standing out in the crowd. they all cheer their cheers and jisoo gets thrown up in the air at one point but it was a time of genuine happiness and smiles and seungcheol knew that jisoo didn't mind one bit when he hit the ground because seokmin got distracted by minghao to catch him.  (jisoo later said that his back hurt but it didn't matter. they were happy.)

 

jeonghan stood with seungcheol to the side watching with a fond gaze at everything happening around them. hoping that it lasts more than its supposed to and that nothing will change in their friendship when they leave. he should've known it was wishful thinking. 

 

jeonghan has lived this year with hollywood movie perfect happiness with seungcheol by his side. everything was a dreamstained blur now, every scene shifting into another one and jeonghan forgets that hollywood movies are a glossed over, exaggerated representation of love. 

 

and the most important thing to remember,  it doesn't last.

 

jeonghan feels seungcheol link their hands together and pulls him face to face. in the chaos of that graduation,  in that dirty campus plaza, seungcheol rests his forehead against jeonghan's and said, "I'll be gone. I have to go home. back to my hometown."

 

and jeonghan feels his throat tighten, that pressure in his nose when he's about to cry creeps up slowly as he tries to swallow, " _wait_. jeonghan. listen." and jeonghan does,  looks at seungcheol in the eyes with a watery gaze, he listens. "i promise I'll come back. I promise I'll still love you." and jeonghan sighs with shaking breath, love and stress in his whole body aching. he bumps his nose to seungcheol's and believes.

 

"okay."

 

jeonghan sees seungcheol off at the bus station and he should've listened to the tug at his heart and the reality of the scene. the chipped paint on the walls of the station, the bright colors of red, green and yellow bursting in his eyes, the fast pace of the people bumping into each other and the old bus struggling with sounds whirring loud enough to warn jeonghan. it wasn't like in the movies, no sad, sweet music in the background and no surprise happy ending because he knows just how this goes. everything seemed wrong but seungcheol kisses him and everything is muted for a moment until he let's him go to board the bus and jeonghan couldn't do anything as his time in the spotlight comes to an end. 

 

seungcheol doesn't contact him again after a month. 

 

 and jeonghan tries not to panic. tries not to overreact and over think. he _waits_.

 

that seungcheol probably lost his phone or accidentally lost his number. it kills him to think of the older out there on his own. there are plenty of rational reasons, but soonyoung is coming over just to get him out of bed and it all seems so sad. he tries to tell soonyoung he's okay but soonyoung purses his lips and nudges him in to the bathroom. jeonghan misses how soonyoung whispers "you're not" when he turns and closes the door. 

 

jeonghan barely gets through another three months but he gets support from his friends. help him stand on his feet and not waste away in his apartment. it feels like he's underwater and everything is muted and his heart is aching all the time and he almost snaps at seokmin for kissing minghao's forehead. he catches himself in time and slumps down at the table sighing where soonyoung rubs his back in understanding. 

 

six months since seuncheol went away and jeonghan wakes up from a nap with a text from seokmin saying he needs to go to the café downtown immediately. thinking the worst case scenario, jeonghan rips the blanket off and throws it to a side of his room and although dizzy from sleep, he changes his clothes and runs as fast as he can at twilight on a tuesday. 

 

he barges in, eyes searching wide for seokmin when he sees them sitting at a table with an extra person with silver hair, back turned to the café doors. but jeonghan would know who that person is anywhere. he swallows, hands shaking, and makes his way towards the table. soonyoung sees him first and he must've looked like shit bc soonyoung's smile falls slowly and the chatter fades away as he comes face to face with seungcheol. 

 

the silence was so loud jeonghan could hear his blood rushing in his veins. could feel seokmin's guilty tension gripping minghao's hand. he could sense soonyoung's worry coming at him in waves. he could see seungcheol struggling for words to say. 

 

"uh.. " seuncheol tries to start but falls empty as he looks around the table, on anything, but jeonghan. jeonghan stares at soonyoung until the boy got the message and drags minghao and seokmin away with, throwing a poor excuse of having to bathe his goldfish. jeonghan is eternally grateful for soonyoung. 

"so." jeonghan says softly, breathing slow and sure, but his heart is pounding. the sky is diffusing it's colors, pink and orange bleeding out in the gray sky. the murmur of the people in the café is a good calming white noise for jeonghan because seungcheol finally, finally looks at him and jeonghan sees _nothing_ close to the love he used to see in them. 

 

 

 

 _"jeonghan."_ his name doesn't sound right anymore. 

"i'm _sorry_." jeonghan closes his eyes. 

"i don't _love you_ anymore." it was simple as that, like the ending of a song abruptly, sucking the music and life out of you.

 

 when jeonghan opens his eyes, seungcheol isn't there anymore.

 

 twilight breaks and the sun has _gone_.

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!! come scream with [me](https://twitter.com/ujinology) about lee jihoon!!!


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